2003 - Garnet

October 2003:

Fall rutting season was a bit tougher
this year. Our bull, Silver, didn’t like
having the herd split in two. Even though
Jade and Mica are steers, Silver didn’t like
Jade being on the other side of the fence
with his own little herd….Mica and Garnet.
Of course, it didn’t help that Jade would
walk back and forth along the fence taunting
Silver. Silver spent day and night charging
the fence between the two pens. We spent
every day straightening the fence and
reinforcing posts when need be. We were sure
glad when Silver’s antlers fell off the
first week of December and he was back to
his normal docile self. Crystal
re-established herself as the herd leader,
but Garnet still liked to follow Jade
everywhere.

July
2003:

Halter training Garnet went pretty
smooth. She was always anxious to have her
halter on and head out the gate toward a
patch of dandelions nearby. Now that all
five reindeer were halter broken, they all
wanted to go for a walk at the same time. If
we had a willing guest or two along, we
could manage all five reindeer at the same
time. Harvey and I got pretty good at
handling two reindeer at the same time,
although the reindeer prefer not to be
restricted by the other’s movements. One
afternoon as Harvey was leading Silver out
the gate, little Garnet snuck out along side
dad. She dashed off to her favorite
dandelion patch and started browsing on her
favorite treat. It took a couple of minutes
to tie off Silver and Jade, and grab
Garnet’s halter and rope.

She
was so intent on the dandelions, she didn’t
pay any attention as we walked up to her and
slipped the halter over her nose. She never
lifted her head….just kept eating those
dandelions. From that day on, whenever the
reindeer went for a walk outside the pens
Garnet was the first to get her halter on.

April 14, 2003:

Garnet was precious and very, very tame.
The little reddish brown ball of fur was
intrigued by her dad and brothers in the
adjacent pen. She would spend all day next
to the fence watching the boys. Brothers,
Jade and Mica, started running back and
forth along the fence while little Garnet
tried to keep up. When she tired, she curled
up in the roots of a birch three next to the
fence, propped her chin on a log and fell
asleep.

On her fifth day, we opened a second pen
area for mom (Crystal) and baby Garnet. A
couple of hours later we checked on them and
found that Garnet had crawled under the
fence and joined her dad (Silver) and
brothers in the next pen. There was no way
Garnet would let us catch her….she was
having a great time. After having no luck
coaxing her back to where she belonged, we
ended up herding Silver, Mica and Jade into
Garnet’s pen so she would follow them. Once
she was back where she belonged it was easy
to herd the boys back to their pen. A few
days later it was time to reunite the herd.
We opened a gate between the pens. Garnet
dashed through and ran straight for Mica,
her 125 pound one year old brother. Garnet
spent 15 minutes or more chasing Mica
through the hills and splashing through the
marsh behind him. Chasing Mica became
Garnet’s favorite game.

What a day 3 I've had!.

April 11, 2003:

It’s a girl!

Crystal and Silver’s newest calf Garnet,
was born around 8 p.m. on the evening of
April 11, 2003!

Garnet was smaller than Mica when he was
born in 2002, and she was not as strong and
healthy. After three days, however, she was
running all over the reindeer pen. From time
to time her mother, Crystal will bark at her
to stop running. At this stage, Garnet still
listens to her mom and abruptly stops
running when she barks.

Garnet at three days old.

Garnet's daddy, Silver, and brothers Jade
and Mica are in the adjoining pen. She
constantly pokes her head through the fence
at them. The boys aren't sure what to make
of this little reindeer. They sniff at her
and lick her nose. Occasionally we catch the
boys running back and forth the length of
their pen, and little Garnet is trying to
keep up with them on the other side of the
fence.

Garnet didn't mind us petting her the
first two days, but on day three she decided
to keep her distance. She will walk along
side us, but hands off at this point. So,
halter training begins today (day 5) before
she gets too independent for training.